In corrective orthodontic treatments, dental appliances in the form of brackets are used to move malpositioned teeth to orthodontically correct positions for improving a patient's occlusion. Conventional orthodontic treatments apply brackets to the patient's teeth and thread an archwire through a slot defined in each bracket. The archwire applies corrective forces to the brackets directed to coerce the patient's teeth to move to orthodontically correct positions.
During set up for an orthodontic treatment, the individual brackets from among a group of dental appliances are placed at labeled tooth positions on a setup card. One significant disadvantage of such set up processes is that placing the individual brackets onto the setup card at the proper tooth positions and with a correct orientation is time consuming for the clinician or the clinician's assistant. Another disadvantage is that the individual brackets may be easily positioned at incorrect tooth positions on the setup card. Yet another disadvantage is the potential for bracket contamination, such as the transfer of dirt and oils to the bracket surfaces, during handling by the clinician.
If the brackets are supplied in a single patient package, the clinician may avoid transferring the brackets to the setup card by working directly from the package. In practice, most single patient bracket packages are not constructed to work directly with a setup card, which forces the clinician to work directly from the package. The brackets are loose inside conventional single patient bracket packages. The clinician or clinician's assistant must identify a quadrant and a specific tooth in the quadrant for each bracket removed from such packages and then orient the bracket removal. This sequence of events slows bracket application and introduces uncertainty in the identity and orientation of the brackets handed from the assistant to the clinician. Any unused brackets must be either stored loose with a risk of loss or stored in the bulky original package.
Therefore, a single patient package for orthodontic brackets is needed that overcomes these deficiencies of conventional single patient packages.